We could get a #ppploan @rivethealth but we decided we shouldn't. That's not the conclusion we started with and it's easy to slip into a default setting of chasing "free money". To encourage anyone that can to leave the loan money for those in *need*, a few words from us 1/n

We are an early-stage startup with all the inherent risks of such, with customers impacted negatively, and our own revenue, cash, and operational plans getting hit. At the same time, we are a venture-backed startup coming off great timing 2/n

(what's now actually just become very lucky) on a Series A. All told, we qualify for a loan per the outlined conditions, and the money sounds real nice.

A key blessing of real education is to think independently, and I ain't no brainiac, so for most of this week I've been 3/n

in default mode with the rest of the country figuring out the size of loan we could get, how to be first in line (I'm competitive after all ), submit through the best possible bank, etc. We submitted our application on Friday and finished out our workweek. The weekend gave 4/n

our team some time and room away from the hustle of yet another week, and something we had been subtly maybe feeling but not voicing or acting on started to become clear: this loan money isn't meant for us, and we've now withdrawn our application. Why? 5/n

Because there are so many businesses that are literally facing existential threat within the next 2-3 months. In no particular order, a handful of factors helped us to gain a better perspective over the last few days: local examples like @neighborstorage planting their flag, 6/n

seeing unemployment numbers come to light, driving around town yesterday seeing so many sad stores with their desperate "we're open!" and "we do curbside!" signs out front, going into a 200k sq ft furniture store to see *nobody* but commission-only salespeople in it, 7/n

a particularly great conversation with a prospective customer who was so darn likable and hurting from COVID and having already furloughed employees, "hoping to figure out the #ppploans next week so we don't have to let go of more", 8/n

and exchanging notes of support with our investors at @Pelion_VP @Lux_Capital @MenloVentures where you realize you're not alone in supporting that your business, while dinged, can survive COVID without the loan and that others genuinely need it to make the next payroll. 9/n

I know many businesses that don't need or "deserve" the money but do qualify will get it, and sadly, they're more likely to because many of the SMBs that need it most don't have the connections, savvy, and staff to have submitted applications and they're already behind 10/n

in this crazy first-come-first-serve landgrab. But I hope that by not pursuing the loan and sharing these well-intentioned tweets, we may spread the awareness and experiences that influenced us to realize what we were originally doing was probably not right, maybe even wrong 11/n

Final thought: I'll never forget a phenomenal #psychmajor lecture (shout to Mr Reber @byu) in college about the importance of asking not just "could we" in all our pursuits, but "should we", most importantly. I think now is a good time to exercise that muscle. If you 12/n

qualify and do need the loan to survive COVID, I wish you luck getting it and surviving this nutty event. We originally submitted our application through @Lendio, and though we withdrew and aren't seeing the process through, I'd recommend it as the best option we had found. /fin